My Wings Are Not Broken Merely Damaged
by KounetsuDeb
Summary: Subject SBW004X had no memories of his life before the labratory, so when a man with a braided ponytail and a slightly insane grin offered him an escape...he took it. SLASH! VIOLENCE! ROMANCE! HP/HY HIATUS! SEE PROFILE FOR DETAILS!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I…Deb, do not own anything pertaining to Gundam Wing or Harry Potter. Not now, not in the past, NOT EVER.

**Author's note:** So this little plot has been haunting me for a bit…finding a way for Harry to get close to the G-boys without him being related to any of them. I haven't seen too many Creature-Harry fics in this genre, so I thought I would give it a shot. This is SLASH and in boy-boy lovins, if you don't like it, don't read it. I do not have a beta for this story, so please…be gentle.

* * *

"Commander, subject SBW004X has shown a large capabilty in resistance for all lures and potential others." A deep male voice registered in the ears of a young teenage male who was laid out on his stomach upon a cold metal examination table; His arms were bound above his head by metal bonds wrapped around his wrists and secured against the hard table, a thicker pair of bonds were around his calves in a simular manner. Blearly emerald green eyes tried to focus on the stark plain metal room, focusing on the figures infront of them in white, they fliched and blinked trying even harder to take them in.

"Doctor, the subject has awaken." A suprisingly soft feminine voice spoke up, causing the young man to turn his head in her direction.

"Subject SBW004X, can you understand me? I want you to explain what happened during the last experiment." The third figure was another male, older than the first, spoke in a stern and commanding voice.

"Where am I?" The young man asked quietly, rasping from the dryness in his throat. He tilted his head and ignored the dark black bangs that fell into his eyes. "SBW00- huh? Is that my name?"

"Subject appears to suffer amnesia sir. At this time we are unable to tell whether or not this will only be temporary." The voice that could only be the doctor spoke up, causing the other man to scoff in disgust.

"Put our winged pet back in his cage and call mantinace in to drag off this latest body. Someone needs to tell that creepy bastard Falke that if he wants our new birdie mated, he better give us a better wolf; otherwise we'll need to work out something with the Raven's coven." The door slammed behind the commander as he exited.

'_Winged? Coven? Wolf?'_ It was hard for the young man to focus on any one word, feeling the approaching darkness of unconciousness.

"Nurse. Sedate the subject and have the guards return him to cell HRC-4F."

The last thoughts that came to the young man's mind was the awareness of pain, and the feeling of being overwhelmed by dark nothingness.

* * *

The year was AC 198; ever since the Mariemaia incident, smaller uprisings have occurred throughout the colonies as well as on earth. Those attempts however were quickly met and halted by the efforts of the Preventers Organization. Most of the high standing and dangerous groups were stopped by the members from the former Gundam Operations. Only three of the former Gundam pilots worked for the Preventers as full-time agents, but all were present for the urgent meeting with the commander of the Preventers (a lovely Lady Une) at the Preventers HQ in London.

"Gentlemen, you all should be well aware that I would not have called you all here unless it was a delicate situation rated as a far too high risk for our regular units."

"Once a hero, always a hero! Well, occasionally we get a bit of bad press…but we know that we're the guys you call in to save the day." Full-time Preventer known as Agent Shadow, Duo Maxwell grinned lazily from where he was sprawled out on his chair.

"Maxwell. Shut up and let your _superior_ speak." Fellow full-time agent and partner to Agent Shadow, Wufei Chang (also known as Agent Fire) smirked superiorly in the direction of the slightly taller man.

"You two never stop. Do you know how many office assistants I've gone through because you two cannot stop your inane bickering?!" Lady Une nearly growled at a cowed Duo and Wufei.

"Lady Une, What exactly is the situation?" Quatre gave a polite smile, clearly in an attempt to draw attention away from the other two.

"I don't know how much you all have heard about the new militant supply company known as Sunrise Incorporated. In appearance and by their account books, everything looks normal…however we have had a few agents investigate further into the company and we believe they also sell and auction off exclusive weapons to the highest bidder. From my understanding they have come into a new weapon; we are not exactly sure what it is, or even the full strength of it, but from what we have been able to gather this weapon is quite powerful and extremely dangerous. "Lady Une reached into a drawer and pulled out a disc, handing it off to Heero. "I would like for us to seize the weapon in an operational state, but if you cannot…destroy it. We cannot allow a weapon of this magnitude to end up in enemy hands."

"Well then, we should get started." It was the first time that Trowa had spoken, and then after that they quickly left the office.

* * *

"So how exactly do we want to go about this?" Quatre sighed as he settled down into an overstuffed armchair. Normally he kept his 'barriers' strong and tight around others, including those he considered himself to be close to – like his fellow former pilots. From Heero he could only feel acceptance, as well as a small flickering sense of excitement. Trowa was feeling much the same, but on a less clinical level (he also held a touch of concern for his comrades). Duo and Wufei however were by far the more entertaining two of the moment. He didn't know who they thought they were kidding, but the sexual tension was almost visceral.

"Duo and I will be the only ones actually entering the building." Heero didn't even bother looking up from where he was typing furiously on his laptop. "Based on the documents that Une gave me, the room where the target is being kept is especially small. It shouldn't be too difficult for Duo to move it on his own, while I hack their system and collect information on their 'black market' project. And in an addition I'll alter their security system to assist in Duo's escape."

"…And the rest of us?" Trowa asked quietly from where he was leaning next to a bay window.

"It would be preferred that Quatre prepare a location to hide this device and house us all until the target has been dealt with. Trowa would serve as a distraction as well as a defensive force…should it be necessary. Wufei would be there for the same purpose, but also as a backup should Duo or I need it."

"Well then, I suggest we all get some well needed rest. The next few days will be quite taxing." Quatre stretched his arms above his head, moving to put out the dying flames in the fireplace.

Duo and Wufei quickly disappeared down the hallway towards their rooms (although the second had waited for Heero to go in an attempt to dose suspicion). Finally after the doors had closed, only Trowa and Quatre were remaining.

"So, how long do you think it will be before they come out as a couple?" Quatre looked to his usually silent friend with a smile.

"I believe they will need to be confronted about the issue before that happens." Trowa chuckled lightly as he pushed up from his spot and headed for the door. "Good night Quatre."

"Good night Trowa, pleasant dreams."

* * *

**Authors Note**: We will be finding out what Harry is in the next chapter; I will however say this…Harry is NOT a vela. He is a creature that was invented by a writer named becca589 a few years ago for a 'snarry' challenge. Feel free to go look up what this is if you're feeling daring, but I'm warning you all now that my version will not be the same as hers.

Harry will be in a relationship with a MALE character from the Gundam Wing series. I am only leaving it open to Trowa or Heero. The only exception would be Milliardo, and that would be if A LOT of people said they wanted him (and you would need to PM me about this, because he will not be listed in the poll). So go vote on who you want and please feel free to leave a review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: Do not own

**Author's note**: I can only say….HOLY CRAP!! I cannot believe the amount of responses this story received, honestly I expected maybe like… 4 *scoffs* …and you guys totally kicked that out of the water. I'll be responding to some of the reviews at the bottom, so if you're curious about them…feel free to take a peek, there _may_ be some hints in there.

Please be aware that I have never been to Wales and/or England, so the only information I have on the towns and areas mentioned I gathered from Wikipedia.

'_Thoughts'_

_Dreams (lack of quotes)_

**_Warning: violence and foul language can be found in this following chapter._**

* * *

DAY ONE: 1420 HOURS (2:20 PM) – Five miles out of Camrose, Wales.

"We should be pulling up to the house in just a few minutes everyone; I tried to meet all our usual specifications. The house is located a few miles out of the village of Camrose in the Pembrokeshire area of the former country of Wales; this location is also a few hours outside of our target town of Swindon, so it'll give us a large area to use in covering our tracks as well. Even though Camrose is a small community of about 2000 people, the house is very isolated so it'll be easy to hide even a large object, depending on whatever we find on our mission." Quatre had turned from his position in the passenger seat to look back at his teammates. Duo and Wufei both had window seats with Heero serving as a buffer in between them, let's be realistic; those two may be crazy about each other, but the bickering alone would have made the other members of the car…just a little homicidal. They needed to save that for the mission, thank you very much. Trowa was the one driving the car, as the only member of the team they trusted to do it in a safe and timely manner.

"So how are the rooms set up? I'm not going to have to room with Wu-man here right? 'Cause seriously, I think I figured out the source of his attitude…his ponytail is too tight, I bet it's painful." Duo snickered over Heero towards the Chinese man in question who snarled right back at his 'secret' lover.

"Well, I guess we should take preemptive measures with you and go ahead and amputate that monstrosity you call hair. We wouldn't want you to end up in the same situation now would we?" Wufei practically snarled right back; he would have reached for said 'monstrosity' but he really did not want to pick a fight with Heero in the process.

"No, the house is large enough that we will not need to worry about that. All of us will happily have our own rooms." Quatre gave a slightly pained smile that instantly turned to relief as the gate to the house appeared. The home they had purchased had been referred to in the description as a cottage; although in the past it had served as a small manor for an unnamed wealthy family. It was roughly 3000 sq feet in size, with five bedrooms available and came pre-decorated for them. The moment Quatre had found the property he had quietly hired a few men to build a storage shed that was nearly the size of the house itself; they still had very little information about the weapon they were supposed to capture, so he had tried to be prepared.

"Everyone should be aware of the jobs we need to get done upon arrival; security sweeps, the setting up of our security system, as well as the unload of everything we will not need for the mission. We will be leaving at 2200 hours." Heero snapped his laptop shut just as they pulled up in front of the cottage and gave Duo a small shove to get him moving. "Let's go."

* * *

DAY ONE: 2030 HOURS (8:30 PM) – Swindon Laboratory of Sunrise Inc. Sublevel 4.

"…_its swish then flick. Swish then flick."_

…

"…_Don't you hear that? The whispers…it's going to try to kill again."_

…

"…_I'm giving you a choice my boy, it's up to you if you take it. Things will only be worse if you remain..."_

…

"…_The time is almost here Ariell, when you go to the land of war…Remember me."_

"_Of course I will always remember you Luna…Ariell? What's that?"_

"…_was telling me about Muggle religions. Ariell is the angel of healing, death, and creation...The "Lion of God", which you are Ariel. You will heal the world…Now, wake up."_

…

Pain; that seemed to be the first and last thing he noticed anymore. Subject SBW004X tilted his head to the left and winced as his neck gave a loud crack that seemed to echo even louder in the barren room. Whoever had decided to put him in this room apparently didn't think he deserved a bed, or any form of comfort for that matter. SBW004X lay in the exact center of the small room upon the cold unforgiving concrete floor and as naked as he was upon the date of his birth, except for a pair of metal shackles that wrapped around his wrists and were connected to the floor only two feet from where he lay. After a long moment of staring off at the far wall in an attempt to gather himself; the subject lifted a chained hand towards the bolt that held his chains to the floor before pulling back with a sharp jerk and a cry. Nursing his injured hand to his chest he noticed for the first time what he believed to be the cause of his pain.

Around him in a four foot radius was painted a large ornate circle of scarlet red that flared to violet with his touch. Subject SBW004X couldn't explain how he knew it, but the designs and symbols in the circle seemed to be holding him prisoner, and would cause him great pain if he attempted to cross them. Deciding to leave the circle alone for awhile, he decided to do inventory on the sporadic memories that seemed to haunt his dreams.

'_Ariell…Is that my name then? What of SBW004X…It's a number. I'm a number then?' _He brought a pale hand up slightly past his shoulder and shivered at the feel of his fingers brushing over the soft feathers. Shifting himself carefully he tried to gain a better look at the wings that seemed to cover most of his back. He couldn't remember too much, but he was sure that he had never seen anything as black as his wings; they were beautiful…such a solid state of black it seemed difficult to tell where one feather ended and another began.

Angels, what were they? The woman from his dream…Luna. He was pretty sure that the woman had to have been talking about him; he doubted that Ariell was his actual name, now that he thought about it further. Perhaps it was something the woman had called him, just like how the people here called him that number. Ariell it is then.

Ariell was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of metal scraping against another metal surface; turning his head sharply towards the door he tried to shift in to a defensive position, but with his bindings he couldn't possibly hope to protect himself. The door opened up and a man dressed in a thick black uniform leveled a long metal object in his direction. _'A gun.' _Ariell was surprised when that thought was pressed forward, but he knew to be cautious…that gun was dangerous.

"Come on freak. It's time to go play in the cages again." The man kept the gun leveled at Ariell as he moved towards the circle that kept the young man prisoner. Ariell watched intently as a silver cuff around the guard's wrist seemed to glow brightly as he stepped through the circle to unlatch his shackles from the floor.

Ariell gave a soft whimper as he was jerked forward sharply by the guard, who yanked hard on the chain to get him moving forward. The teen had closed his eyes and prepared for the agony that came with crossing the circle…until he realized there was none. He was pulled out of the room and down a few twisting hallways until they came to a metal door that looked exactly the same as all the others they had passed. Ariell winced as his arm was grabbed by the guard and was held still until the shackles were removed from around his wrists.

"Do me a favor now you freak. Go in there and let yourself get fucked. I don't want to drag your bloody mutant ass back to that cell again." Those were the only parting words he received before the door was yanked open and he was pushed through.

* * *

DAY ONE: 2050 HOURS (8:50 PM) Winner Cottage – Camrose, Wales.

The sun had set nearly an hour before four of the young men left the cottage from the rear doors and moved towards the storage shed. One truly couldn't call it a shed if they had even taken one look at the large building. Sheds were usually made of wood or plastic, but this building was all concrete and reinforced metal, capable of holding and protecting most objects in a very secure environment.

"Let's see what goodies Q-man got us shall we?" Duo rubbed his hands together like a giddy demon child on Christmas before he yanked the solid metal door open. "Aww…man! How boring." Duo knew that realistically they wouldn't be getting anything too exciting, but really…two non-descript cars were pretty disappointing.

"Like we need anything else, all of our other supplies are already in place. Get in the car Duo." Heero ordered in his monotone 'perfect solider' voice that truly never seemed to leave him as he moved towards the driver's door after securing the car keys.

"Why can't I drive?" Duo pouted as he opened the passenger seat and slid quickly into his seat, just in case Heero decided to pull out while he was still halfway in. His question never received an answer though as Heero simply shifted into gear and pulled out onto the gravel road.

Wufei and Trowa didn't even bother watching as the other two left, simply sliding into their car and quietly pulled out down the same road before splitting off in another direction. They were silent; although both were positive they had similar relief that they did not have to go through another lengthy car ride with the self proclaimed God of Death.

~*~

"So Heero…what do you think this weapon is? I mean, we didn't get a lot of information on it right? So it could be anything." Duo rested his boots on the dashboard in front of him, leaning back into his deeply reclined seat as he watched clouds float by his window. "Maybe a bomb…but that's a little over done and nothing special. A high performance rifle? Hmm…a new model of plastic explosives? Come on Heero, give a little input. We're going to be in here for hours, we should at least find something to occupy us."

Heero didn't bother guessing as he reached over to the glove compartment and popped it open; grabbing the first thing few he could he tossed it into Duo's lap.

"We have three hours, read over the buildings blue prints or play that stupid word game."

Duo looked at the two books in his lap and decided which one he should choose; although to be honest it really wasn't that hard of a condition. Mad Libs beat blueprints and schematics any day of the week.

* * *

DAY ONE: 2100 HOURS (9 PM) –Swindon Laboratories.

Ariell looked around the large room he had been pushed into with bemused awe; he had started to think that all of the rooms in this place were made of only cold hard metal, but the room before him was lavishly decorated with soft carpets and beautiful ornate furniture as well as a roaring fireplace.

"I was wondering when I would get to see you dear pet…You're as lovely as the alpha said." Ariell turned his head sharply towards the man who was leaning against the mantel of the fireplace. He was amazingly tall, much taller than his own 5'5". The man before him had dark auburn hair and a sharp jaw line that had to have been chiseled from solid marble. He was offsetting; vile and weak…but yet a threat, dangerous to Ariell's lively hood. The man was feral in Ariell's mind, the way those amber eyes glowed could only remind him of a predator. Ariell flushed in anger as he felt the imaginary trails the man's eyes seemed to leave on his bare form.

"My name is Lycoris, pet. I am to be your dominate. The alpha has decided to give you to me as a reward…now, come to me my pet." The man's voice was like oil; slippery and left its disgusting touch on everything and was near impossible to get off.

Ariell stood in place for a long moment, before suddenly he seemed to snap. How dare this _animal_ before him dare to command him? This beast before him was not fit to even breath the same air as he, Lycoris was weak…he was _unworthy._

That last thought seemed to be the release switch; something inside Ariell was triggered and energy seemed to torrent through his body, waves of his energy built up in him until he felt if he held it in any further he would explode. He barely registered the feeling of his fingernails and canines lengthening; for he was too busy looking at the shadows that caressed very corner of the room. Ariell could see the way they shivered and moved with his emotions; the shadows were excited and anxious for the bloodshed almost as much as he was.

Lycoris didn't even have the chance to scream before Ariell threw himself towards the werewolf; the wolf's last dying thoughts were only of pain as he felt those claws dig into his flesh and the cold touch of darkness as the shadows of the room converged and smothered him.

* * *

**Author's note**: Okay….so I lied in the last chapter. It will be _next_ chapter before I tell you all what Harry/Ariell/SBW004X is. I know some people have tried to hunt down the author I mentioned before….but haven't had any luck. The challenge this author made around this creature is years old, and based in 'Snarry' fanfiction, so you would have to hunt around a lot…or just be patient. Whatever works.

Ariel is the name of an angel found in Judeo-Christian mysticism; I've mainly included everything I wanted known about him in this chapter…but feel free to check out information on Wikipedia if you're curious. I did take artistic liberty with the spelling of the name of course. Although to clear it up, no Harry is not an angel…it's just a name that Luna gave him.

917brat: Incase this chapter didn't give it away…Harry will definitely **not** be a weakling; my Harry is quite the badass, an uke…but still total badass.

Catzi: I already PM'd you about this… but just to share this with everyone else. I will be explaining the idea of 'mating' further. THIS WILL NOT BE MPREG. I will read that from time to time…but not really my writing style.

Serenity: I really don't think I could pull off a proper Harry/Quatre. Maybe someone could… or I could make an attempt after I watch the second box set of GW again; I really would hate to get Quatre's character wrong.

Some of the questions I don't fully intend on answering…hopefully I've given some hints but I will give this one fact. Magic as the Harry Potter Wizarding World knows it…does **NOT** exist in the Gundam Universe.

Please Read and Review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: Do not own

**Author's Note**: Wow! I've been simply amazed by the amount of feedback I've gotten for this story. 40 reviews and over 120 people have voted in the poll for the couple choice. The poll is still open to those who want to vote and have yet to do so. ALSO! Congrats to those who figured out what Harry is: Naerdiel, Droaerion, and Azinine. I really didn't realize I was being that sneaky in choosing the original writer's old username *didn't know they had a newer one*. Details about my take on Harry's race, as well as the original challenge will be listed at the bottom after the chapter.

* * *

DAY ONE: 2300 HOURS (11 PM) – Swindon Laboratories

As Ariell slowly regained consciousness the first thing he registered was the familiar feeling of hard cold metal beneath his bare form as well as the mechanical beeping that was rather loud near his left ear. He tried to register on any other noises and froze when he heard the door to the lab opening up to let someone in.

"Good, you're finally awake I see. I didn't think it would be much longer. The wolf you fought today was rather disappointing, far too weak to be a good match for you." The soft feminine voice of the Doctor's lab assistant was soothing on the young man's ears. She moved forward and released his arms from the restraints above his head but kept the shackles around his wrists. "I've brought something for you to eat, I imagine you haven't had much in awhile."

Ariell kept his eyes on the woman as he slowly moved to sit up but winced, noticing for the first time the wound on his left side. He shrugged his shoulders a little and flexed out his wings, tilting his head to the side to try and get a better look at the injury.

"Lycoris got you at the final moment of your attack; it seems that even if he was weak, he wasn't going to go down without something for you to remember him by." The woman set a small tray down on the table next to Ariell and gave him a moment to inspect it. "I doubt you remember, but you showed partiality to the strawberries and canatlope mostly, so I made sure to include plenty of that as well as grapes and pear slices. I brought also some bread for you, hopefully you're well enough to enjoy it."

"Thank you…" Ariell said quietly as he reached for one of the pale orange cubes of fruit and took a small bite, as far as he could tell it didn't seem to be drugged. But with the way these people regularly drugged him, did they need to actually go about it so sneakily? Shrugging away his doubts he dug into his food. "Miss…"

"Call me Abigail, you used to before." The woman smiled lightly as she leaned against a far counter and carefully went through some paperwork.

"…What did you call me, before I mean?" Ariell whispered as he tore at the stems of his grapes.

"I would only call you by your species name; you refused to trust me with your real one. You wouldn't tell it to any of us, not that I truly blame you." She poured a glass of water from the tap and placed it next to Ariell's plate.

"We're not the same species then?" He gave a look over his shoulder, carefully folding and unfolding his wings in an attempt to stretch them.

"No, we are not. You are what the Commander's family calls a Vanteera. Vanteerians such as yourself are very rare, only a few have been seen throughout the centuries that the Commander's family has managed to capture…alive anyway. You're certainly the strongest though, they had a difficult time catching you."

"Can…can you tell me about what I am? About the Vanteerians I mean." Ariell tried his best to look disinterested but he couldn't help but to be curious. He knew so little about the world around him and his own place in life in general…he would take any information that he could get a hold of.

"We don't believe you come from this world first of all. All Vanteerians captured have been found in one particular forested area, but repeated searches of that area have not turned up any hidden populations. It's almost as if your kind appears there out of nowhere. You nearly managed to escape us, a feat that is quite surprising for a submissive." Abigail grabbed a chair and pushed it over so she could sit in front of Ariell, she took a hold of one of his wings and grinned as he shirked away and tried to tuck his wings close.

"…Submissive? I have submitted to no one." Ariell nearly growled and his eyes flashed for a moment before the whites of his eyes slowly started to bleed a green that if was allowed to continue his whole eyes would be nothing but solid emerald.

"No, you haven't at all…that's what makes you so unique. A submissive black wing such as yourself hasn't been captured alive in nearly two hundred years. We have much more information on dominate black-wings, as well as dominate and submissive white-wings then we do on any submissive black-wing. They usually comply with the Commander's desires and the desires of their masters, much faster than you have."

"SBW004X. That means…" Ariell looked to Abigail for confirmation, he was pretty sure he understood but he wanted to make things clear.

"Yes, Submissive Black-wing. You are the fourth that has been captured alive. The 'x' in your number stands for how 'extreme' your abilities seem to be." She chuckled as she lifted herself up from her seat, watching him as he shrugged and took a bite of some of the bread.

"These cuffs…I've noticed there are designs, words on them. What do they mean?" Ariell looked down at the shackles on his wrists; they were a heavy metal set, but in shallow lines were tracings and symbols that seemed to be familiar somehow.

"These are binding cuffs," Abigail touched one lightly, looking into the young man's eyes."I'm not sure how they're created, but they hold back your abilities to a certain extent. They also nullify your scent a little bit. As an unmated Vanteera you release a type of pheromone that attracts strong dominates, especially vampire and werewolf dominates to you. Without these you could easily be swarmed by dozens of _Others_."

"That's why they were taken off of me, so I could fight that man…Lycoris fairly?"Ariell was puzzled by the situation, as far as he could tell these people were doing this for personal gain. That would mean they would want to get rid of him right? Why would they remove the bonds then?

"Yes. Somehow Vanteerians cannot be properly mated if they are bound and suppressed like you are with those cuffs. We couldn't complete our work if you were bound then." Abigail had only turned her back on the young Vanteera for a moment, and when she looked again the young man was gone. Frantically she moved towards the intercom, prepared to sound the alarm when she heard a choking noise. Ariell was on the ground gasping and shaking as he clutched at his throat, eyes rolling up in his head as his body shuddered.

"Fuck!" Abigail hurried to the cabinet and quickly pulled out a vial and a hypodermic needle. Plunging it into the liquid inside her quickly cleared away any air bubbles before she stabled the needle into the Vanteerians arm. It took only a few seconds to activate, causing the young man's movement to stop and him to lose consciousness. She brought her hand to his soft red lips and looked at the traces of bread that remained in his mouth.

"Lazy ass bastards. I told them it could have absolutely no salt in it…The commander will want to hear about this." Such language was not common for the young assistant, but she knew well what would happen to her if Subject SBW004X died on her watch.

* * *

DAY TWO: 0100 HOURS (1am) – Two miles outside of Swindon Laboratories

Once Duo and Heero managed to reach this point they abandoned their vehicle after carefully camouflaging it in local vegetation. They moved swiftly and silently through the woods, their steps barely sounding on the forest floor and no sound fell from their lips but the soft sound of them breathing. They both knew that this was game time, and no time to fool around. Once they were 150 meters from the laboratory they parted from each other; Heero's target was the security office, and Dup was after their main target, the weapon itself. Duo peeked at the watch on his wrist, noting he had managed to make it into the air shafts in good time. If he knew his friends, Trowa and Wufei would have been in position for at least twenty minutes. He slid through the thin metal as carefully as he could so as not to alert any possible guards that may be around him, he should be to his target within 15 minutes if he played his cards right.

~*~

Trowa and Wufei were both indeed in their positions; having separated from one another early on. Trowa had headed towards the north and having secured a simple Aries model mobile suit he lay in wait, well hidden from any watchful eyes. Wufei was stationed extremely close to the main entrance to the laboratories. He was well hidden in the brush with a nondescript motorcycle as well as a Barrett M82A2. An extremely badass sniper rifle that fired .50 caliber ammo with an effective maximum shooting range of over 2,000 meters. Well, he had the rifle as well as 20 pounds of ammo available at his digression. This rifle could shoot through most building materials; he had to be well prepared.

* * *

DAY TWO: 0120 HOURS (1:20 PM)

Ariell was getting pretty sick of this, there really should be some law of the universe that stated how many times one group of people could knock out or attempt to kill a single individual. His mouth tasted disgusting and his body was sore. He slowly lifted himself up from the floor and noticed that he was back in his small cell. Flexing out his wings he noticed the tightening of bandages on his chest, but not the sharp twinge that came normally with an open wound. Sitting himself up on the cement floor he carefully unwound the cloth bandages from his chest which happened to be the only cloth on his body. Tentatively he ran a hand over his side only to realize the injury that had been there earlier was now gone.

Thinking back on the conversation from Abigail he knew he had to try and find some way to escape from this place; he had no memories of who he was or where he came from, but he was sure he would survive a lot better out in the world than waiting here to be raped and sold off to some beast. He would start with trying to find where they had found him...it was the only thing he could think of. Now if only he could get out of this damn circle…

* * *

DAY TWO: 0145 HOURS (1:45 AM)

Heero wasn't sure if he should be surprised at the high amount of security at the laboratory or not; so far he had not killed any of the guards out right, but he guessed that one or two may die from their injuries. He attempted to leave as many of the guards standing as he could. If he knocked them all out there would be a chance of someone coming along and finding the body.

Within a few minutes he had navigated his way through the building until he was less than ten feet from the entrance from the security room. He saw the door was guarded by two men in uniform as well as a camera that seemed to rotate 360 degrees every two minutes. Waiting until the camera was positioned just right so he wouldn't be seen he ran straight towards the guards, not giving them enough time to respond before they were dead.

It took only the fingerprint of one of the dead men to open the locked door, quickly he shot the man operating the security cameras and dragged the two corpses in behind him and locked the door. The whole thing had taken a minute and twenty-three seconds, he would have to train when he got back to their home base, he was getting rusty.

He took shoved the camera operator's body out of his way as he sat down before the computer, slipping in a disk and began typing away at the consol. It didn't take him long at all to have the phone lines and cameras disabled, he kept the electricity on in an attempt to keep the guards clueless for as long as possible before he began the process of hacking his way into the laboratory's system.

'_Just a little further…For being a 'high tech' military provider, you would think they would update their system from time to time._' Heero nearly chuckled as he successfully gained access to the lab's files and quickly began downloading any information he could get his hands on while skimming and trying to find out anything on this 'weapon' they were hunting for. He almost missed what he was looking for; ignoring it until he saw that the last three people who tried to purchase the SBW004X had died in just attempting to operate it. While leaving the downloads running he began hunting for information in particular on the SBW004X before he came to a startling conclusion.

"It's human." The object in the documents before him could only be organic. What kind of human being could do the damage that had been documented in the scientists' notes? Heero didn't have time to figure that out now, his downloads were complete. It was time for him to get out of there and make his way back to the vehicle so he could return to base. Duo would procure another vehicle based on what they needed to transport the weapon and they would meet up later at the safe house.

* * *

DAY TWO: 0151 HOURS (1:51 AM)

Duo wasn't sure if the amount of guards he was encountering was a surprise or not; it seemed that the farther down he went through the laboratory the less and less guards he seemed to encounter. If he would have to guess, it was probably due to the fact that the company was keeping the identity of the weapon a secret, even from a majority of their employees. It wasn't until he reached the lowest sublevel did he notice an increase of activity…right where his target was located. Guards seemed to patrol on a regular basis, and he even saw a young woman in a white lab coat berating officers for the salt in her bread. Odd.

He carefully kept to the shadows as he approached a guard who appeared to be separated from most of the others. Sneaking up behind the man his fingers pressed firmly against a few pressure points and the man collapsed into his arms. Duo hid the man as well as he could before he stripped him out of his uniform and put it on over his own clothing. He tilted down the cap that came with the uniform over his eyes, and tucked his braid down into his jacket in an attempt to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

It took him a few minutes to find the correct cell, surprisingly there were no guards protecting the door itself and it took just a few seconds for Duo to figure out his bracelet he gained from the guard opened the door. Quietly he snuck into the room labeled HRC-4F and looked around the sparse room until his eyes landed on the figure in the middle of the room.

He could only stand there and blink stupidly as emerald green eyes raised to meet his.

"Who are you? You don't have the same presence as the others."

* * *

DAY TWO: 0205 HOURS (2:05 AM)

Heero cursed silently as he shot at the guards that blocked his path towards freedom; he wasn't too sure how the alarms had been tripped, but once they were the full power of the security forces guarding the laboratory came to life. Sirens blazed in the background as he quickly veered to the left, diving and dodging through the hallways until he reached the outdoors. It took a bit of fancy footwork as well as some moves that he was sure that if Catherine saw him doing he'd be forced into circus work…but, he escaped. Now it was time to get back and wait on Duo.

* * *

DAY TWO: 0155 (1:55 AM)

Ariell studied the man in front of him, he wasn't sure how he could explain it, but somehow he knew the man didn't belong. He had eyes so blue they almost looked purple, as well as thick brown hair that caressed his face before trailing down past the inside of his collar. The uniform looked slightly wrinkled, like it had been put on in a hurry, unlike the others he had seen which had been carefully taken care of.

"Who are you? You don't have the same presence as the others." Ariell stood up within the circle, carefully keeping his wings close to his body so they didn't extend out and get injured. He felt like he could almost see through the man; he was a walking contradiction, honest but known to deceive, loyal and irresponsible. Ariell felt he could sense one thing for certain though, this man before him was his ticket out of here.

"Duo Maxwell. I may run, I may hide. But I never tell a lie." The man moved towards Ariell and pulled out the keys that he had stolen from the guard. Quickly releasing the Vanteera he had moved to remove the shackles before Ariell pulled back and shook his head sharply.

"They need to stay on, it's safer that way." Ariell was firm in that belief; somehow he could tell that Duo was human, and that he would have no chance if they were swarmed by vampires and werewolves.

"Whatever then, either way you need to come with me. You're what we came to rescue from this hell hole." Duo smirked at the smaller man and grabbed a hold of his wrist, successfully tugging him through the circle thanks to the device on his wrist. They ran quickly down the hallways, ignoring the cries for them to stop and the sound of the alarms going off. One guard attempted to shoot them, and managed to graze one of Ariell's shackles causing that one to fall apart.

Ariell instantly felt the awakened power rushing through his body; the energy was nowhere near as possible as it had been with the encounter from the werewolf, but it was enough that he could easily take out the guards blocking their path. He hissed out in a language he barely felt he knew and watched with glee as any shadows in the hall converged on their attacker, suffocating him slowly until he died from lack of oxygen. He glanced over to Duo to see the man's response to the guard's death, he seemed to be shocked and Ariell guessed it had to do with the matter of death. Did humans not have this ability he seemed to have?

~*~

Duo did not know what to make of this guy he had found; of anything he could have possibly imagined to be in the room…this angel before him wasn't one of them. He had heard about the angels from Father Maxwell and the Sister, but he had always been told that angel's wings were white…so why were these wings black? Was he a fallen angel? A demon maybe? Either way it didn't matter, plenty of people had 'fallen' in dark times, this man just must have been one of them.

He could hear heavy gun fire as well as the loud movements of what could only be a mobile suit…hopefully it was on their side. His pace quickened after glancing at Ariell to make sure he was keeping up, and they slid into a garage and moved towards a large vehicle.

"Get in the back and lay down, I'm going to get us the hell out of here." Duo slammed the doors shut behind Ariell as he moved quickly to the front and started up the truck. "Hold on!"

Duo slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, gaining enough momentum to crash through the garage door and kept it up until they escaped through the main gate. He could hear frantic yelling as well as a few explosions, he was once again thankful that Wufei and Trowa was on _their_ side. It was a three hour drive until he was back at their safe house, and most of it Duo spent wondering how the others would respond to their new house guest.

* * *

Please Read and Review!

**Author's note: **Alright, here is the information I promised on Harry's vanteerian abilities, followed by the original challenge. Hopefully my creature-Harry isn't too 'Gary Stu' on a God-moding kick ne?

**Harry/Ariell's Vanteerian Abilities**:

Harry is no longer truly human; while his Vanteerian-ness is not a birth right…it'll be explained later, honest. He has feathered angel like wings that are solid black, and will be able to retract at will later on. He will have an androgynous look to him, and his hair will be growing out as well.

Vanteerians are strong, powerful, as well as extremely sexual. They are need physical contact for proper health, but in lesser amounts until they find their true mate (then their need increases 10x fold). They are graceful like a feline and have sharp claws and fangs that grow in times of great emotional distress.

Harry as a submissive is not physically powerful, but he will have shadow magic as well as slight mental abilities as well. He will not have any 'regular' Wizarding magic. He is also able to 'sense' certain things, but has difficulty interpreting them. He also has a fast healing rate. Harry is mortal.

Vanteerians are allergic to salt, and have difficulty eating 'complicated' meals. They are vegetarian.

**Original Challenge: The Vanteerian Charm (Vanteerian Abilities)**

You can decide whether the wings stay there all the time or perhaps sort of retract into his shoulder blades, leaving thin scars

I don't know how you can twist it so that Harry is a Vanteera, perhaps it skips generations, or perhaps Lily was one. It can even be done, perhaps, by choice. Maybe another Vanteera decides to help him and thus changes him into one of them. If you do it this way, then Harry must only remember an extremely beautiful man or woman in a dream. The Vanteera would then disappear and not show his or her self at least until Harry's at Hogwarts and knows what he is.

A bit on the Vanteera: (Vanteerian is the name of the race, Vanteera is the name of each individual creature of said race)

A Vanteera is very rare magical creature that is now very nearly extinct. A Vanteera has sleek smooth wings, the blackest of blacks. It is to be strong, powerful and a sexual creature. It has the grace and movements of a cat (even the purr) and, rather like werewolves, can only have one mate in its lifetime. They have no specific time of transformation, but they have something like an animagus form of a sleek black winged panther and can change into it whenever it likes. They have razor sharp claws that grow when they are particularly emotional of any kind, or when they're hurt. Instinctive

So basically, a Vanteera has the heightened senses of a werewolf/large cat, the wings of an angel, the strength of a vampire, the lifeline of an elf, the sexual nature of an incubus and the beauty of a Veela.

Each Vanteera has these special magical attributes: Shadow Magic, Elemental Magic (both at varying degrees for each, of course. Harry's being strong :P). Ability to see magic around people and items, like see what talents they have etc. Tears of healing (I couldn't resist). Fast healing.

They also have these weaknesses: Allergic to Salt. They don't react well to artificial lights of any kind, it burns their skin and makes it peel…… and hurts like hell lol. Doesn't include fire, candles but it does include want light if it's directed pointedly at them. (I just have this mental image of Harry using his shadow magic and sneaking around, then someone hears something in a dark corridor, turns around with a Lumos spell and Harry hisses, clawing out at it before shrinking back into the shadows)

A Vanteera feeds off pleasure. But this desire is only awakened when the mate is discovered.

A Vanteera is seen by the Wizarding community at large as something of a fallen angel/hybrid. I don't necessarily think you should go into reactions too much, apart from those of his close friends and family, but if you do then I think its best to have the Vanteera as being accepted and maybe even revered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: I will confess….none of this belongs to me.

**Author's note**: I think I'm in love! I'm overwhelmed by the number of reviews I've received so well. I'm pretty positive this story is blowing all my others out of the water.

I'll admit this chapter is a bit of filler, but a necessary bit of filler.

* * *

Heero was the first of their four man crew to make it back to their temporary safe house, and by the time he had settled down into the living room with his ever present laptop and filing his latest report, Wufei and Trowa were slipping through the door. Wufei looked no worse for wear than being a little windblown, and Trowa had the ever familiar burns of a pilot's harness on his chest as well as a few light bruises from being banged around in the cocpit.

"How did everything go?" Quatre asked quietly as he walked into the living room bearing a sterling silver tea service, pouring a mug of coffee for each of them before taking one of his own. It was nerve wracking being the defensive guard, not being able to be out on the front lines with his comrads…just waiting for word…

"Things seemed to go almost completely as planned." Wufei spoke after taking a long sip of his coffee. "The base seemed to find out about us a litter sooner than I would have liked, but nothing truly important."

"After I saw Duo escape in a large truck, I kept up the attack for ten minutes longer as a diversion. They should be back any time." Trowa leaned back into the couch, crossing his legs as he looked out the window, seeming lost in thought.

"Did you guys see anything of what the weapon would be?" Quatre moved down to sit next to his quiet friend, basking in the warmth and calm emotions from the brunet. Trowa and Wufei both shook their heads quietly before Heero spoke up.

"Whatever it is, it's human." He ignored the looks from his fellows as he turned his attention back to the laptop. "I had a brief oppritunity to look over the scientists' documents before I had to get out. All the tests seemed to revolve around a handful of men who seemed to have special capabilities; according to one file I found, one man from a few years ago was able to manipulate fire. The most recent one they were holding…the one I suspect Duo grabbed has been the strongest of these genetically altered humans this group has ever had in their possession."

"How long until Maxwell gets back?" Wufei could barely focus on those few words, the idea that these _people_ would kidnap and practically torture innocents just for having certain talents…the injustice of it all.

"ETA. 0530 hours. Let's get some rest." Heero muttered, all while his eyes never left the laptop. It was pointless to tell them to get some rest, they all knew they wouldn't

* * *

It was almost a few minutes to 6 in the morning before Duo finally pulled up to the safe house. He had taken more than a few side roads and backtracked to hide his destination just in case he had been followed. He glanced back at the small door that lead to the large bed of the military style truck he had stolen. Happily the truck had a large tarp that seemed to cover the bed of the truck fairly well; hopefully his companion hadn't suffered too harshly from the night air.

He really had no idea of what to think of the young man he had…rescued? Kidnapped? Maybe this kid was what a true Shinigami really was, a true being of death. The way he had killed that guard…no way anyone of this world could do that right? Duo pulled up directly to the house and slid through the small door to the bed of the truck.

"Hey man, you awake?" He touched a hand to the young man's shoulder only to jerk back at the heat, a clear sign of a fever. Duo reached into his pocket and grabbed his cell, hitting Quatre's number he waited for the Arabian blond to answer. "Quat, I need some help outside. I can't bring him in on my own."

After he heard the quick agreement he shut the phone and squatted down to pick up the winged boy and eyed the wings after a long moment.

'_Just how the hell am I supposed to pick him up?'_

* * *

All four of the men inside the house seemed to come alive at the sound of a car coming up the driveway; Duo had taken a lot longer than they had previously anticipated, and Wufei looked more than ready to kill the 'braided baka'. Quatre's cell phone suddenly started vibrating and the familiar sounds of Bach's BWV 1043: I. Vivace started playing for all to hear. He hurriedly answered the phone before agreeing to meet Duo outside and looked to the others.

"Duo needs help bringing him inside." Quatre moved to the door and pulled it open, just in time to see a small metal ramp come down from the bed of the truck.

"Did he resist?" Heero called in to Duo as Trowa climbed up to assist. Things were quiet for a moment, and then slowly Duo and Trowa came down the ramp, supporting a lax figure between them. The others stared in disbelief at the trailing black wings that hung limply from the young man's back; they couldn't see too much of him in general all together really. His head was flopped forward and hiding his face behind a mop of unruly black hair.

"Nah, he helped make sure we got out of there. He did some freaky stuff and killed a nearby guard." Duo tilted his head towards Quatre and gave a lopsided grin that attempted to hide his tension. "I think he has a fever though, I'm pretty sure he hasn't woken up since he hopped back there."

"Let's get him to a bedroom then, we can set up a watch on him until he wakes up." Quatre held open the door for the two before moving past to lead them down the hall, only to pause. "Where should we put him?"

"We can put him in mine; I'll be up for awhile longer." Heero spoke up quietly from where he had frozen before in the doorway, his eyes had never left the strange figure. It went against everything he had ever been taught…seeing a man with wings. Magic did not exist, he doubted miracles did either…he had seen enough proof of that. Perhaps after the other's go to sleep he could investigate those wings, most likely they were fakes.

* * *

It was three long days before the 'Vanteerian' would awaken. Heero had shared some of the information he had been able to get a hold of, as well as the opinion that the leader of Sunrise Inc had to have been insane. The idea that his family had captured these mythical creatures over the decades and sold them off to Vampires and Werewolves was just ridiculous. He did find some information though that he felt more likely to believe; Vanteerians could not eat salt of any kind, for some reason it seemed to be almost like poison, and that the young teen had an abnormally fast healing rate. He had come to them covered in bruises and small cuts, which were almost completely gone, not even leaving a scar.

"Any updates?" Trowa leaned against the side of the door as if he had been there all along, but really he had only been there a few moments. He was still privately amazed at the creature that lay on his stomach on the soft bed below him. At the shake of Heero's head he lifted up and moved to take a seat opposite Heero's near their 'patient's' bed.

"No more than earlier. Quatre believes that he is sleeping to recuperate…he also wonders if he is an empath. Apparently Duo and Wufei were pretty riled up earlier, and it bothered him." Heero closed his laptop as he moved to stand.

"It could have been the noise, those two are rather loud."

"Negative. The room's walls are rather thick. Even I had trouble hearing them when the two started." Heero walked to the door and spoke without even turning around. "Wufei will be here to take over your shift in five hours."

"Until then."

* * *

Trowa's watch had been going on for exactly two hours, twenty-seven minutes, and thirty five…no thirty six seconds when the man on the bed had first moved. Trowa looked up from his book and quietly set it down before rising up to go to the door, however he did not have time to open it before the figure on the bed curled into an almost fetal position and gave out a soft whimper. He approached the bed with caution, hand pressed lightly to the grip of his gun, hidden beneath a thick green sweater.

He was only two feet from the edge of the bed before the figure rolled to the other side and dropped to the floor before quickly correcting its position to turn to him and snarl. Trowa kept his eyes on the feral young man in front of him and took a small step back in an attempt to ease him from his defensive state. The teen reminded him of one of the lions from the circus; those wild and defiant eyes that were held in such a soft and powerful form. He remembered then and now that the figure before him, like a lion could be much more dangerous then they let on.

"You're safe, calm down." Trowa made sure to meet the teen's eyes, not backing down once from the stare in an attempt for dominance before the younger man turned away. "What's your name?"

"They called me Subject SBW004X." The young man kept his head lowered and to the side as he eyed Trowa through his lowered lashes.

"What do you call yourself?" Trowa was curious about the young man before him, he seemed to be such a contradiction he was sure that lesser men would drive themselves insane trying to figure this one out.

"…Ariell."

"Is that the name you were born with?"

"No…but I remember someone calling me that once. She was blonde, beautiful… her eyes…I don't remember much of her, or anything really. Just images that flicker together and make no sense at all."

"Nothing more than that?" Trowa asked calmly, his expression giving away nothing as to whether he believed Ariell or not. "You'll tell me if you remember more."

"Yes," Ariell's voice was nothing more than a whisper as he moved to sit on the bed. He sat there for a long moment before speaking again. "Why is it that I trust you so? You and that other one…the one with the braid."

"You're a submissive. It's natural." Trowa pulled open the door before glancing back at Ariell. "You'll stay here until one of us comes for you. Understood?"

"Fine, I'm tired anyway." He moved to lie out on his stomach again; ignoring Trowa as he left the room…playing up his submissiveness could be such a hassle.

* * *

Trowa walked silently down the hall before he came upon the others in the kitchen. He ignored the reprimanding glares he received from Wufei as well as Heero as he sat down at the table.

"He woke up. Goes by the name Ariell, he doesn't remember but he's pretty sure that's not his given name. I told him not to leave the room. He won't."

"You believe him when he says he doesn't remember anything?" Duo bit into a slice of chocolate pie and let out a moan of delight.

"Yes." And that was the end of that, for now at least. Who better to know if someone had amnesia than someone who had already suffered through it before?

* * *

**Author's Note**: By the way…the winner of the poll is!!....Check out the end of this author's note.

I know Harry came off… kind of wimpy in this chapter, but really, can you blame him? I know if I was a natural submissive in a strange environment I'd be acting pretty damn off. He'll go back to his spunky self, no worries.

Also…Miliardo, any of the G-Boys or Gundam characters currently living *wink wink* will not, and have never not been a werewolf and/or vampire. There's a reason for this, believe me.

And as Catzi suggested, things will be quite interesting when the next shackle drops. We'll meet plenty of vampires and werewolves later...definitely another Vanteerian, maybe two.

As always, please read and review.

Oh… and the winner of the poll? That's not until _next_ chapter. Ja Ne.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these amazing ideas

**Author's note: **I'm very sorry about the long delay everyone. _Darkness Excludes No One_, my Harry Potter/Riddick story refused to let me go until I finished it. But now that is done, and I'm back here again. This story isn't very long, but to go with it I'm revealing the couple of this story….HEERO/HARRY by a land slide!

* * *

_"You know...your parents named me your godfather. If you want to stay with your relatives I understand but..."_

_..._

_"Isn't 'e a sweet lit'le thing? I'm thinkin' of callin' 'em Norbert."_

_..._

_"Sometimes I think I should just let him kill me and get it all - Ow! Draco what the hell was that for?"_

_"Listen you idiot because I am only going to say this once. If you __ever__ say something like that again you won't need to wait for You-Know-Who, I'll kill you myself!"_

_..._

_"Crucio! What's the matter little baby? Can't handle a little pain? You scream so prettily..."_

When Ariell finally regained consciousness he realized he was still in the same building he had been brought to earlier, but not the same room he had been told to remain in. While he felt like he was in one place, it was almost as if he was nowhere at all; he was surrounded by nothing but darkness. There was neither a ceiling nor a floor, wherever he was, nor was it possible to tell what was left and what was right. He was floating in a never-ending void and it was...surprisingly comfortable. For all the nothingness, Ariell felt as though he was wrapped in a blanket of warmth. The security he felt was stronger than he had ever felt in his life (or at least, from what he remembered).

It was not completely silent in the void however; distantly he could hear the yelling as well as the sound of people moving about frantically. Following the noise Ariell suddenly came upon a wall that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The wall was not completely solid; he could brush his hand through it as if pushing through a very thick mist.

Once he was out of the mist that was a wall, he suddenly found himself falling a short distance only to land on a short series of stairs and tumble down to the very bottom. He rubbed his shoulder with a wince and looked up in shock to see a metal cylinder pointed inches from his face. It took him a few moments to recognize just exactly he was staring at; it was the same type of cylinder the guards carried back at the lab. He was pretty sure it was called a gun.

"Don't move." A cold harsh voice matched the cold cerulean blue eyes that Ariell looked up into. The man's hair was just as unruly as Ariell's own, although not nearly as long as his own shoulder length hair.

"Heero! What are you doing?" Quatre cried as he turned the corner, having come running when he heard the noise from the stairs.

"He was trying to escape." Heero growled out in a semi-monotone voice, the gun never leaving its position.

"I was not trying to escape, I woke up here." Ariell huffed under his breath, reaching up to touch the barrel of the gun in a curious manner only to have Heero jerk it away before aiming it at another spot on his person.

"Are you trying to claim you were dream walking then?" The clear note of disbelief was easily heard, even with Heero's monotone voice. Ariell ruffled his feathered wings before glaring at the 'perfect solider' in annoyance.

"I was not walking, I was floating. I came to the wall and that's it."

"That does not make any sense." Before Ariell could speak again Quatre moved in between the two in an attempt to keep things from getting physical.

"Perhaps we should let things go for now as long as Ariell promises not to leave the grounds. It's best to let the others know anyway that he has been found." Quatre gave Heero a pointed look, causing Heero to huff and holster his gun before storming out of the room.

Quatre stood there for a long moment, just watching the young man who never left his sitting position on the floor. When the teen had been unconscious earlier it had been difficult to get a good look at him. He was lovely, ethereal, and Quatre would have easily guessed he wasn't human, even without the lack of wings. The idea that such _creatures_ existed, and have existed for decades and only a few people had known about them (according to one of the documents Heero found), that alone was amazing.

"Come. You must be hungry." He held his hand out to the sitting boy, amazed at the silky texture of Ariell's fingers as he helped the winged man stand; in the process brushing up against the wings adorning his back. "Your wings are beautiful…"

"Oh, thank you." Ariell gave a light blush as he nervously pulled his hand away from Quatre's. "And food would be wonderful, please."

* * *

By the time Ariell was settled in the living room with a small plate of fruit, Heero had found the others and brought them all into the room before taking a seat in one of the free armchairs. Duo quickly claimed the seat on Ariell's free side as Wufei took the remaining armchair. Trowa moved behind Quatre's seat on the couch to stand against the wall.

"All fruit? No meat or anything? Eeech…! The kid is skinny enough as it is Q-man." Duo teased as he eyed the cantaloupe in distaste.

"He offered me a sandwich…the meat smelled funny though so I couldn't eat it." Ariell murmured as he picked up a grape.

"I checked the meat, there was nothing wrong with it." Quatre objected, blushing lightly at the looks he was receiving from the others.

"According to lab notes," Heero spoke up from behind his laptop, which he sat on the coffee table in front of him. "His kind cannot eat meat of any kind."

"So you believe that he's really not human?" Wufei huffed and ignored the indigent grumbling from Ariell – he was in the room thank you very much. "It could be a result of gene manipulation; we're all familiar with that."

"We won't be able to know for sure then until we return to headquarters. Which, for the moment we're not exactly sure when that will be." Quatre had turned with a smile to Trowa who had spoken for the first time since coming into the room.

"Until then, we will need to learn more about your talents Ariell." Quatre smiled at the young man sitting next to him. "Duo mentioned that you used some of your abilities on the guards while you were making your escape."

"Yes…I think that's what I did earlier. I mean, using my abilities." Ariell added in quickly. "Would you mind if I tried it again?"

Ariell watched with a little amusement as all five communicated silently with one another. If he understood correctly, they came to the agreement that he could give it a try.

"I won't leave the building, I promise." Ariell stood up from his seat and approached a shadowed wall. He could feel them staring intently at his back and slowly pressed his hand against the shadow, imagining the hand slowly entering like one would stick their hand into the dark. He nearly laughed at Duo's surprised gasp as his arm sank all the way up to his elbow before he pressed further in and disappeared completely.

The void was exactly the same as before, completely dark without the smallest amount of light. There was a small difference in that the void was restricted to the size of the room he was just in with the others, most likely a restriction he had set for himself. He walked through the void for a moment before he came out in the shadow behind Wufei's chair.

"Well, that was fun." Ariell chuckled as Wufei turned to look at him in shock.

"That was cool! Do you think you can take people with you?" Duo leapt up excitedly, looking like Christmas had come early.

"I don't know if I could or not…Not really sure we should try it." Ariel spoke hesitatingly as he rubbed his chin with his sole shackled hand.

"Ariell, we could remove that for you if you like." Quatre offered with a small smile.

"No! I mean, the nurse said I shouldn't take it off. She said that my kind apparently leaks some kind of pheromone and I shouldn't take it off."

"It could be a trick to keep him wearing it." Wufei argued, looking like he was about to jump Ariell any moment and rip the shackle from his wrist.

"Duo, you think you can run some tests on it?" Quatre asked as he eyed the shackle, reaching out to touch the metal but pulled back after a moment.

"Sure! Come on Ari! I'll show you my lab while we make sure you're not bugged." Duo freely grabbed the winged man and tugged him off down the hallway.

"You realize we're never going to see them again." Trowa spoke up as Duo's loud laughter faded down the hall.

"Duo gets attached too easily." Heero muttered as he closed the laptop and left the room for the library.

* * *

Duo never let go of Ariell's arm as he dragged the young man from the cottage and quickly into the garage that was behind the smaller building. Even while observing their surroundings Duo was able to notice the pure curiosity and amazement at some of the equipment the boys had lying around; like he had never seen something so simple as a monkey wrench in his entire life…probably hadn't from what he could remember.

"Come sit over here Ariell, I'm just going to grab a few things we'll need." Duo called as he motioned to a nearby stool before digging in a large cabinet.

Ariell eyed the seat for a moment before he delicately perched himself on the worn out cushion. The chair alone looked like it had been through hell and back, Ariell wasn't sure it would even hold his slight form for long. He spread his wings slightly in an attempt to help balance out the rickety chair and nearly fell off when he heard Duo shout in success.

"I knew it was in here!" Duo exclaimed as he pulled out a small piece of equipment. He held it simply in his hand like one would hold a gun as he grabbed a second stool and sat down right in front of Ariell. "This little baby here is kind of like an x-ray. It'll let me look through the shackle and see if there are any little bugs or things that shouldn't be there."

"I don't feel any movement, so I don't think there are any insects." Ariell dryly commented, only to frown when Duo burst out laughing.

"I meant a different kind of bug; now hold still." Duo took Ariell's small shackled hand in his own, holding it gently as he moved the device slowly around Ariell's wrist. Ariell could only watch on silently, surprised at the intent look on Duo's face as he worked. The young man seemed to be quite the character; such a serious face was quite surprising.

"Well?" Ariell finally asked after Duo put the device down.

"Well, as far as I can tell there isn't really anything more to it than a shackle; no tracking devices, no nothing. The only thing I could really see is that the damage has a ton of hairline fractures; they're really hard to see with the naked eye, but if you're not careful that thing will break pretty easily."

"So I can keep wearing it?"

"I don't see why not, it's not causing any problems as far as I can tell." Duo smiled and set the device down on the counter before looking to Ariell again. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I guess you can ask another one." Ariell gave a small grin as Duo rolled his eyes.

"Do you think…you could fly with your wings?" Duo asked as he slowly reached out, giving time for Ariell to back away before touching his black feathers.

"I think I probably could, given enough space." Ariell nodded and resisted the temptation to shudder at the foreign feeling. "Do you think we could go outside and try?"

"Nah, not yet anyway. It hasn't been too long since we got you out of there, They'll still be looking for you."Duo shook his head. "We'll keep you busy anyway though; you won't even have time to think about flying."

"I'm thinking about it now though," Ariell pointed out, confused for a moment when Duo rolled his eyes.

"Well come on then, I'll show you around and maybe we can go torment Wuffers. I need a partner in crime."

* * *

Heero had been in the library for hours by the time Ariell stumbled upon him; having ducked into the room while hiding from Duo, who seemed to have a 'brilliant' idea involving Wufei and a can of fuchsia paint.

Ariell quickly and silently closed the door behind him and looked about the room, absolutely fascinated by the books that lined the walls. He ignored Heero's stare burning into his back as he lightly stroked his fingers against the hard spines of the books.

"I thought you were with Duo." Heero finally spoke up, still typing up his mission reports as he watched the young man.

"I was, but I ran off on him." Ariell replied simply, completely oblivious to Heero's hardened glare.

"Why?"

"He wanted me to go through walls to sneak up on Wufei and dump paint on him. This really wasn't in my best self-interest so I snuck off. May I stay here with you?" Ariell tilted his head a little and gave Heero an easy smile.

"Hn." Heero grunted and gave a miniscule shrug, going back to focusing on his report; although he couldn't help but peek up to check on the emerald-eyed beauty from time to time.

"So…what are you working on?" Ariell asked in a semi-sing song tone, spinning the large globe in the corner around in slow circles.

He frowned after a long moment, realizing that the messy-haired Japanese man had no intention of answering his question. Leaving the globe alone he picked up a rather large random book before dramatically flopping down on the plush couch, carefully hiding a wince that came from accidently sitting on the tips of his wings.

Eyeing the stubbornly silent man again he sighed loudly to himself before opening the book (apparently a large guide to local lore) and began to half-heartedly read as he mainly flipped the pages back and forth to admire the pictures.

"How long do you plan on being in here?" Heero asked after nearly half an hour of this had gone by.

"Hmm…? Oh! Sorry I was just _so _focused on this book." Ariell looked up at Heero, trying to look as innocent as possible but unable to contain his grin.

"How long are you going to be in here?" Heero asked again, this time with a stern glare.

"How long until I'm allowed to go outside for more than a few seconds at a time?" Ariell asked in return and sat there patiently as silence filled the room once more.

"If all goes well, perhaps in a few days." Heero muttered and completely ignored Ariell's pleased smile as he went back to his work, or at least…he tried to.

* * *

**Author's note:** Well…mostly filler, but important filler to reach the next point. *smiles* I also gave Heero and Harry some alone time, aren't I nice?

Please Read and Review!


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